Bragging rights as the top golfer in Adams County, at least for the day, went to West Union’s Elijah McCarty, who shot a 72 for 18 holes to take first place in the annual Adams County Cup competition.
Bragging rights as the top golfer in Adams County, at least for the day, went to West Union’s Elijah McCarty, who shot a 72 for 18 holes to take first place in the annual Adams County Cup competition.

WU’s McCarty is top golfer on the day

Story and photos by Mark Carpenter –

Continuing their recent domination on the golf course, Coach Carl Schneider and his West Union Dragons boys golf squad are once again the champions of the county as they captured the annual Adams County Cup in an early season tournament played on Aug. 10 at Hilltop Golf Course.  Though they had played matches the previous two days to begin their 2016 season, the focus of the week was on getting those county bragging rights once more and the Dragons accomplished that, outdistancing runner-up North Adams by 20 strokes in the final tallies.
As is always the case, the top five golfers in the 18-hole, one-day tourney are honored as members of the All-County Team and a tie for fifth this year led to a six-man squad, with four of those golfers being Dragons-McCarty, Jacob Pell, Craig Horton, and Eli Fuller.  Also earning All-County recognition were Patrick England and Noah Lung from North Adams.
McCarty was sharp through the front nine, hitting par on every single hole to hit the break at 35.  Lung and England were right on his heels after nine, each coming in at 37, with Pell hanging close at 38.  Lung fell back with a double bogey on hole three while England bogeyed one and four.  Still within striking distance after nine holes of action were Horton and Fuller, both of whom hit the break with scores of 40, with Horton hurt by a double bogey on five.
McCarty picked right up where he left off when he began the second nine holes, hitting par on his first eight holes.  His only slip-up came on 18, where he bogeyed the par-four hole, but still finishing the day at one over with a 72, good enough to be the County Cup champion.

North Adams’ Patrick England follows his shot from the fairway during action from last week’s Adams County Cup.  England shot a 77 for the 18-hole tourney to earn All-County honors.
North Adams’ Patrick England follows his shot from the fairway during action from last week’s Adams County Cup. England shot a 77 for the 18-hole tourney to earn All-County honors.

The race then began for second place and Pell took control with birdies on 12 and 15.  That was good enough to propel him to a one-over back nine and a 75 for the day, second only to McCarty.
The pair of North Adams golfers in the mix stumbled a bit on the back nine with England coming to the clubhouse four over on the back and Lung at six over to drop them to third and fourth respectively in the individual standings.  West Union’s Horton struggled on part of the back nine, picking up bogeys on 10 and 11 before a birdie on 12.  The Dragon senior also double bogeyed 17 on his way to a back nine of 42 and an 18-hole total of 82.  That score tied him with teammate Fuller, who was hurt by a double bogey on 12, though he bounced back with an eagle on the next hole.  Fuller also came in at 42 on the back nine to finish deadlocked with Horton for the final berth on the all-County squad.
Besides the four golfers who finished in the top six, the Dragons had five other golfers on the course, led by a 83 from Tyler Fowler, leaving him just one stroke short of All-County.  Other Dragons in the 18-hole match up were Carson McFarland (90), Conner Campbell (95), Andrew Sapp (100), and Tanner Neal (106).
Other than England and Noah Lung, North Adams had four more on the course, with Bryant Lung finishing at 84, Colt Shumaker at 91, Carson Hall at 102, and Uriah Hall at 112.

Manchester’s Logan Hayslip tees off on the par-3 number 10 hole at Hilltop during play from the 2016 Adams County Cup.  Hayslip shot an 85 for the 18-hole tournament.
Manchester’s Logan Hayslip tees off on the par-3 number 10 hole at Hilltop during play from the 2016 Adams County Cup. Hayslip shot an 85 for the 18-hole tournament.

Though they had no one in contention for the All-County group, the Manchester Greyhounds had five golfers on the course and they were paced on the day by Logan Hayslip, who played the front nine in 39, but had a rough back nine with a 46, for a day’s total of 85.  Dylan Colvin finished the day at 85, Jalen James at 97, Justin Aldridge at 99, and Zach James at 113.
There was one lone golfer representing the Peebles Indians in the County Cup and that was Bostin Robinson, who played 43 on the front and 44 on the back for a respectable day of 87.
After their win in the County Cup, the Dragons were right back in action the next day as they traveled to Portsmouth to compete in the Portsmouth Invitational, an event that Coach Schneider called a “good practice for the district tournament,” being played on the same course, Portsmouth Elks.  Seventeen schools from southeast Ohio played in the Invitational and the Dragons placed second, six strokes off the pace set by the winners from Piketon.  Piketon’s Casey Moore was the medalist for the day with a 73 for 18 holes, while West Union was led by Horton’s 74, very close to medalist status.  McCarty and Pell both shot 79, with Fowler coming in at 86 and Fuller at 87.